[travisman1994]

Friday I was fraging zoas for my first time. I did not wear gloves or safety glasses. I did not know they were toxic. Afterwards I was fine....I went away and hung out with friends. I noticed it on saturday. My eye is red and itches. I will show you a pic.

I do not remember having anything squirt in my eye.... I noticed this thread http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/zoanthid/37792-palytoxin-my-eye.html
tekknoschtev - "I had a similar experience with the reddness and itching not related to palytoxin that I could tell (it very well could have been but I dont recall being squirted, but it could have been me rubbing my face before washing my hands or something) and visine did make a difference but not significant enough to relieve the irritation. Went away in about 2-3 days." So I saw this post. My mom did get some visine today so I started to put it in my eye. It kind of stings when I put it in but hoping it helps. Any advice, I am probs gonna go see doc tomorrow.

 

[Snorkel]

Go to the doctor and don't do zoas again without protection.

 

[tdb560reef]

.

You prob got the toxin on your hands and rubbed your eyes. Go to the Doctor ASAP. I am algeric to frogspawn and did the same had to stay home for a week cuz my eyes were swallon shut.

 

[travisman1994]

well my mom thought it was pink eye at first....than I was all like research time.... First thing I looked up was coral toxic/coral causing red eye because I remember I fraged zoas the other day. Than I found that article. So I am still not sure. Just hoping it goes away..... Is there a way to tell if its pink eye or toxin from the zoas?

 

[dknuckles]

Flush w/ plenty of water/eye flush!
Also look @ ceiling and make yourself yawn (makes eye tubes flush and produces tear)
DO NOT USE VISINE!!!!! It constricts blood vessels and will push toxin further into eye tissue.
You will probably get a metallic taste in your mouth and feel a little stoned (if no metallic taste prob just some cc or aragonite in eye, either way flush it copiously) No worries it only lasts a little bit (15-20min) just sit back relax and enjoy the coral..they will be even prettier colored..seriously!

I've experienced 1st hand..couple times :secret:

 

[Paulo]

Using water can irritate the eye some. Better if you have some contact lens rinse solution or eye wash. They are tonicallly balanced for the eye (dont cause irritation). This is important b/c the eye is already irritated. Might want to use an eye patch also. THis keeps the blinking down and further irritation and thinning of tear secretions. If you blink too much, you tears lose their effectiveness. They will lose their lubricant. You might want to pick up lubricant eye drops up. Make sure their is not a redness remover (vasoconstrictor) in it. Check on eye every 1/2 hour. If it seems to be getting worse, go to dr.
Paulo RPh (registered pharmacist)

 

[soverjas]

Gross. I was just telling someone the other day about some pallys I have growing close to encrusting monti and is irritating the monti. I have been holding off scraping them off the rock for this reason. These things can be very toxic. Palytoxin seem to effect people differently. I have heard of people having nasty allergic reactions to palytoxin causing numbness and swelling.

 

[jolson10450]

happened to me man, i went to urgent care and got antibiotics, it really is just slowing oxygen to your eye causing the redness but i was prescribed antibiotics just in case, i was unable to wear my contacs for over a week so it put me out of commission for a bit because at the time i did not have glasses but other than that it ended up fine. took about 4 days to completely go away.

this actually happened to me twice, first time was the one above, second time i had glasses on and it shot palytoxin up under my safety glasses but luckily the 2nd time around only lasted about 12 hours, certain types and varieties are stronger than others and there is no way of telling which ones are more potent than others according to some of the articles i have read.

if you dont have insurance and it doesnt hurt or blur your vision you might be able to hold off from going to the doctor and if it is still like that after 3-4 days i would go. if you have insurance i would go just to be safe.

 

[RJS8540]

I'm an Optician

I work in Toledo, go to the doctor, it's NOT pink eye.

 

[fog6082]

Medical attention

Go to the nearest Emergency Room for treatment. You only get one set of eyes

 

[demonclownfish]

put some more in your eye and you might develop a immunity to it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mf2055]

Print off info on palytoxin before going to the ER or they are going to look at you like they are an idiot.

"So let me get this strait, did the coral thingy bite you?"

 

[Jessemac]

I have heard palytoxin can be some pretty nasty stuff. Up until recently, I did not realize they were toxic. I should have know a so many things and other corals can be. If if gets worse, don't hisitate to go to the doctor. As mentioned above, you only have one set of eyes, keep them well as long as you can.

 

[iyachtuxivm]

Ever see the creepshow movie where Stephen King touches the meteorite and turns into a big moss covered creature.............. Umm yeah good luck with that!

No seriously all kidding aside get it checked out and like others have also said print out a palytoxin sheet.

 

[travisman1994]

Alright I went to docs.

Alright I went to the doctor on Monday. I printed out another forum post of someone that had a similar experience. The doctor asked me what happened and I told him that I was fraging coral, woke up the next morning and my eye was red. He asked me "What is coral, is it a plant." I was like "um....its an animal that is kind of like a plant.....it grows in the ocean and in my fish tank...." I told him that some coral can be toxic and its a possibility that the coral I was fraging is toxic. He than glanced at the paper I printed out and he was all like "Oh its an allergic reaction" So he prescribed me eye drops to put in. I don't really know if its doing much. I mean my eye doesn't itch as bad. It is still red though. I am just glad it is my bad eye. If it was my eye with perfect vision than I would be way more worried..... I go back to the doctors on thursday. So we will see what happens.....

 

[iyachtuxivm]

Um not really an alergic reaction more like poisoning. :close_tema:
Whats a coral..... really..... Whos a dumb @$$ lol and he calls himself a doctor.

 

[Jessemac]

Good to hear that it is not icing as bad. Hopefully it clears up soon and that the doc does some research prior to you going back to hopefully better aid you.
I had an experience going to the doc when something bit be or stung me Idk while moving my tank. When I finally went to the doc, ER at that. They said they had no clue what to do or how to treat me. I had small blisters all over my hand and starting to spread up my arm. After a good 2 hours they finally pumped me full of some steroid and liquid benadryl and then monitored me for 3 more hours. It was comical but not so much at the same time. I truly hope they are able to help. I dont think most doctors come in contact with issues of this sort all that often thus, are unaware of what to do.

 

[travisman1994]

Nah he isn't dumb....a lot of people truly have no flipping clue what coral is...... I think it is the fact that doctors who don't practice near the ocean are less prepared to treat saltwater illnesses. Also he now wants me to do allergic reaction test....... If I do it than thats great when it turns out negative he will learn something. I am almost positive that the whole allergic reaction idea is a bunch of bull crap. Besides of course the people that die from bee stings and similar stuff..... They said when I was younger that I was allergic to a plethora of stuff including eggs. Guess what I loved to eat..... Eggs.... Guess what I ate eggs..... Apparently developed bags underneath my eyes when I ate them but that didn't stop me. I still eat eggs but now I don't even get bags under my eyes when I eat them. I just think its ridiculous that they are going to test me for allergic reactions when I really don't give a crap. I am gonna eat what I want to eat and I am gonna frag what I want to frag.....even if they say im allergic.

 

[Jessemac]

Thats great! what exactly are they doing the allergy test for? Things from the ocean wont show up on most of those tests. They are generally geared toward area specific allergens.
I wish I coudl still eat what I want to eat....Christmas day 2004 I ate a ton of shrimp and a couple hours later I strated to have trouble breathing and severe abdominal pains, red blotchy skin, swollen tongue and throat. Though at this time I didnt know what causing it and after eating a bunch of benydrill and drinking something carbonated it slowly went away. I ate a huge shrimp pasta dish a couple months later and the exact same thing happened, only worse this time, so ER trip for me. I was not happy with the results. Doc said I was allergic to shellfish, which was my favorite food. Long story short, I developed an allergy to it over the years. But, this didn't stop me from eating it oh no, though it should have...lol At this time, I can no longer even take a bit of shrimp, crab or lobster without having the same effect that a whole dinner plate would have done. Guess there wasn't really a point to this other than just take caution.

 

[soverjas]

I cant eat shell fish either. I was just a kid when I found out. Can't even remember what it tasted like.